AIBU to think Blue Badge holders can use parent and child spaces?

But you said you can use a BB bay or a P&C bay?

So you're sorted.

Well, I do get PIP and have a blue badge so I really am living the dream, still work full-time but you can't have everything I suppose. I was also born into all this unimaginable privilege, without eyeballs to be exact, so I got lucky from the outset. If you want to enjoy this kind of luxury for yourself then I am afraid you will have to gouge your own eyes out, probably easier than amputating your own legs so may be a more workable solution to your terrible predicament of being tragically non-disabled. Still, as you quite rightly say, life-long blindness will be a small price to pay for a new car you won't be able to drive since you now can't see. Best of luck with your home surgery.

Fair enough.

Imagine the PR nightmare if a BB holder was fined for parking in a P&C bay 😂

I always park in P&C bays when I have my mum with me who doesnt qualify for a BB dispite being as mobile as a slug. The extra space is a god send as she needs the door fully open so I can help her in and out, she'd never leave the house otherwise and looks forward to her little shopping trips 😊 that take about 2 hours

I have had a definitive reply from my council re their car parks. I can use my BB in the PandC bays, and the parking will be free, just as it is in any other bay.

There's a small shopping centre near me where standard bays are closer to the door than BB spaces

Some private buisnesses do issue permits for their P&C spaces. No permit, you cant park there.

For example...
https://meadowhall.co.uk/news/parent-child-parking-permit

As a wheelchair user, the same applies to trying to mobilise around a car park where you are below the height of moving vehicles and not easily visible to drivers reversing. Yet we have two supermarkets in our local area who have P&C spaces much nearer the door than the BB ones. In one of them, the BB holders actually have to cross the car park to get to the door.

The point is the fines on private property work in the exact same way as the fines for BB bays.
Private parking regularly employ wardens to police the parking.

Unless they’re trawling CCTV footage to catch people out !!

I think it’s more about whether you’re inconveniencing yourself by thinking of others. Before I was permanently in my wheelchair, if there was a standard space near the door I’d use it rather than take up a BB space. I was never an advocate of using the badge just because you can, if there’s a viable alternative that doesn’t cause you any difficulty.

There isn't a parent and child badge though. So they wouldn't be able to issue a ticket while you are in the shop. They would have too wait until you arrive at the car and have a confrontation.

Abuse of the P&C spaces works the other way too. Rather than people using them without children being present, I’ve seen many more leaving their children in the car while they go into the supermarket. They could do that in a standard space.

I’ve found that these encounters have become much more frequent since Covid for some reason. Maybe people still have pent up anger to vent !!

“Eyes” aren’t sufficient ground for a fine to be valid!

there needs to be photographic evidence

of what?

and they can take a photo for en car in the disabled bay NOT displaying a blue badge. Obviously (one would think!)

How would someone know whether a person was parking in a P&C space without children? Eyes work pretty well I would imagine, the exact same way they could fine people parking in a disabled bay without a valid in date badge on display.

How would they know? And they need to take photo evidence for a fine to be valid so what would they take? @Honeyhonayboo

I took the comment to mean in respect of the car park police - in which case I agree. In my experience they are more about bullying and nosiness than they are about genuinely protecting disabled spaces. I tell them once that I have a badge issued by the LA and if they have a problem here’s the badge number, take it up with them. If they don’t like it, tough. l’m not hanging around to argue the toss.

Obviously it’s a personal choice but I do think it’s acceptable to park in P&C spaces if there are no BB available - clearly it should be according to individual need and not just because you can. The law - specifically the Equality Act 2010 - allows for this because retailers legally have to make reasonable adjustment for the disabled, whereas there is no such requirement for parents with children. It’s a concession.

I’m not saying BB holders can’t or shouldn’t use P&C spaces. Just that I wouldn’t. Would loved to have seen your encounter referred to.

So by not taking up a P&C space that either a parent with a child or another BB holder could use means I’m not thinking of other people? Ok, not sure I understand the point you’re trying to make.

Is there something I’m missing?

Sometimes the P&C spaces are actually closer to the entrance than the BB bays. Our local supermarket is like this. There’s a bit of a walk from the nearest BB space to the entrance but there’s a bank of P&C spaces right opposite the door. Before I was a full time wheelchair user I had very limited and often painful mobility and I didn’t hesitate to use them rather than the BB spaces because the access was easier.

Something I’m seeing more and more are disabled spaces specifically reserved for wheelchair users. They are no different in layout or size than standard disabled bays but are invariably the ones closest to the door. I can see the logic in making sure there’s always a spot available for a wheelchair user but given that they are mobilising in a chair I can’t quite see the logic of putting them right next to the door when someone who may have a great deal of difficulty in walking has to park further away.

The point is that some disabled people would need to use a P&C space if the BB ones were full because a standard bay simply isn’t big enough if you have to get a wheelchair out or you need to open the door fully to get out. There’s a simple answer to the self appointed car park police. No need to explain your disability, no need to argue, and they are definitely not entitled to handle the badge. Just point out that you are a BB badge holder and entitled to park there. If they carry on, give them the badge number and tell them they can report any concerns to the issuing authority. In my experience any further discussion can be ended with a well known two word phrase !!

I don’t look disabled behind the wheel although I’m a wheelchair user, and I’ve had some fun with the car park home guard over the years. I don’t keep the badge on display permanently, and on one memorable occasion I pulled into a parking space and before I’d even turned the engine off an elderly woman was banging on the window. I rolled it down and it was the predictable ‘you can’t park here without a badge’.

I opened my handbag, took out the badge and put in on the dashboard. Next up was ‘well you don’t look very disabled, why have you got a badge’? I politely told her that my disability was none of her business and she launched into a rant about people having no respect !!

The whole time the discussion was going on, the top box on the car roof was winching down my wheelchair to the driver door. It was only when I uncoupled the winch and started to get into the chair that she realised what was happening. Before she could open her mouth to say any more I asked her ‘how disabled do I look now ?’ It was worth the exchange just for the look on her face as I rolled away !!

But the OP Is about when the BB bays are full.

How many BB holders are you seeing park in P&C bays? I never see this.